a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an assembling system for assembling heat exchangers of automotive air conditioners. The present invention particularly relates to a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing outer fins from among manufacturing apparatuses, in the assembling system, for manufacturing header pipes, with flat plates formed cylindrically by means of a press forming, for manufacturing heat transfer tubes, with belt-like plates being formed to letter-U shaped holders by means of a roll forming, inner fins manufactured by means of the press forming, a roll forming, and so on being inserted into the respective holders, for manufacturing the outer fins, with belt-like plates formed into corrugated profiles by means of corrugated cutters, and for assembling the header pipes manufactured by the head pipe manufacturing apparatus into respective spaces between alternatingly overlapped portions of the heat transfer pipes manufactured by the heat transfer pipe manufacturing apparatus and the outer fins manufactured by the outer fin manufacturing apparatus.
That is to say, the present invention, specifically, relates to a forming apparatus using a pair of upper and lower forming rollers to manufacture the outer fins described above.
The forming apparatus is used to form a metallic plate (a metallic sheet) to any desired corrugated form by means of the pair of forming rollers.
b) Description of the Related Art
In a case where the metallic plate is, for example, formed into a desired corrugated form, a pair of upper and lower forming rollers have been used whose peripheral surfaces have a plurality of teeth, each teeth having a shape corresponding to each waveform, viz., a corrugation of the metallic plate to be formed. A supporting form of each forming roller is such that a roller shaft attached to the corresponding one of the pair of forming rollers are rotatably and axially supported on a single bearing stand and the corresponding one of the pair of forming rollers is attached to one end of the roller shaft. This may be called a single end supporting structure. Another supporting form of each forming roller is such that both ends of each of the roller shafts to which the corresponding forming roller is attached are rotatably and axially supported on a pair of bearing stands (so-called, both end supporting structure).